M Y T H S ARE H I S T O R Y
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  • Myths of Creation
    • 1 Thesis
    • 2 Definitions
    • 3 Exposition
    • 4 First Things: Cosmogony
    • 5 Time After Time
    • 6 From Creation To Catastrophe
    • 7 Order Out Of Chaos
    • 8 Traits, Tropes & Themes
    • 9 Macrocosm To Microcosm
    • 10 Astronomical: Theogony
    • 11 Geophysical: Geogony
    • 12 Ethnological: Anthropogony
    • 13 Cosmogonic Causal Chains
    • 14 As Above, So Below
    • 15 Foregone Ages Past
    • 16 Forthcoming Future Ages
    • 17 Second Thoughts
    • 18 But Who's Counting?
    • 19 From Myth To History
    • 20 Cycles Of Recurrence
  • The Jupiter Myth
MYTHS  OF  CREATION
1.   Thesis ​
The most commonly shared cosmovision 
developed by mythological traditions 
during the Late Bronze & early Iron Ages
was the belief that the world has undergone
multiple stages of periodically fluctuating
growth & development — 
in the course of which 
chaotic catastrophes regularly 
upset the cosmic order, 
& thereby set in motion
the basic foundations for 
a new creation. 

The overwhelming congruity 
& the sheer volume of the
parallel beliefs & habits
found in widely different 
regions of the world, however,
have often raised questions
notoriously difficult to answer  
or meaningfully explain.

When early scholars and philosophers 
began quibbling critically over
the nature and meaning of these myths 
at the very beginning of modern science
more than 2,500 years ago, 
at the center of their confusion 
burned irresolvable questions 
about whether or not 
their seemingly improbable contents
had any real basis 
in actual historical events; 
— & despite the proliferation of cultural studies 
& critical theories of comparative mythology
that have continued to broaden our scope of inquiry
since the time of the Renaissance forward,
beyond the former sprawls of Greece & Rome
to the rest of the worldwide variety, 
these questions have nevertheless remained 
just as hotly contested 
& problematic to address as ever. 

This is not to say that there are no 
noticeable distinctions between 
the cosmovisions of different 
mythopoeic cultures; 
nor that the wide variety of 
differences found between them
suggests that any one 
single version of events is older 
& more true than the rest, 
w/ the others being but 
derivative copies that came later. 

— The problem is that, 
in spite of their many differences,
so many astounding similarities remain 
— as if the myths of all mankind 
were once complementary parts 
that formerly sang the common strains of 
a single symphony 
expressive of a more universal harmony of beliefs
than most heretofore have dared to suppose ... 


(Continue)
  • Home
  • Myths of Creation
    • 1 Thesis
    • 2 Definitions
    • 3 Exposition
    • 4 First Things: Cosmogony
    • 5 Time After Time
    • 6 From Creation To Catastrophe
    • 7 Order Out Of Chaos
    • 8 Traits, Tropes & Themes
    • 9 Macrocosm To Microcosm
    • 10 Astronomical: Theogony
    • 11 Geophysical: Geogony
    • 12 Ethnological: Anthropogony
    • 13 Cosmogonic Causal Chains
    • 14 As Above, So Below
    • 15 Foregone Ages Past
    • 16 Forthcoming Future Ages
    • 17 Second Thoughts
    • 18 But Who's Counting?
    • 19 From Myth To History
    • 20 Cycles Of Recurrence
  • The Jupiter Myth